New ANA/BrightLine Research: The Connected TV Opportunity

ANA and BrightLine teamed up to research how the overall ANA member community is using connected TV/OTT (over-the-top) devices. Connected TV means that a television is somehow connected to the Internet. This includes Smart TVs where the connection is built into the TV, or any IP-connected over-the-top (OTT) device/box like Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, PlayStation, Roku, or Xbox that brings an array of content apps directly to a TV screen. When viewers consume television content in this way, they become connected TV users. Here are the highlights of our learning:

Only 43 percent of marketers surveyed claim to be “very” familiar with connected TV/over-the-top (OTT). Meanwhile, the great majority (87 percent) are at least “somewhat” familiar.

Only one in five (22 percent) responded that their company has engaged in connected TV advertising over the past year.

Budgets are modest, as a little under half (46 percent) allocate just 1 percent or less of their total TV advertising budget to connected TV. Approximately half of current connected TV advertisers (48 percent) plan to allocate more of their TV advertising budget to connected TV in the next year. Funding is mostly reallocated from elsewhere rather than being incremental. Seventy-one percent of respondents shift funds from other TV activity, while 37 percent do so from digital.

Audience targeting is perceived to be the top benefit of connected TV, cited by 50 percent of the total sample of respondents. Both users and non-users recognize the benefit of audience targeting. With connected TV, television buyers can target audiences on the same level as their digital counterparts.

The top barriers preventing greater spending on connected TV among users are measurement questions and low penetration/small-scale audience.

Among those respondents whose companies are not currently engaged in connected TV advertising, the top barrier is lack of familiarity. Of those not currently engaged, 13 percent intend to do so over the next year, while 59 percent are not sure.

The large majority of total respondents (71 percent) believe connected TV is an opportunity for the television advertising industry. Those currently engaged are extremely bullish on it, with 89 percent believing that connected TV is an opportunity. Reasons most often cited by respondents for identifying connected TV as an opportunity were targeting and following viewer behavior.

In your home, do you have one or more connected TV/over-the-top (OTT) devices? While 56 percent of all U.S. homes do, ANA members compare most favorably at 78 percent.